Brooklyn Brown Ale | Brooklyn Brewery

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Notes / Commercial Description:
This is the award-winning original American brown ale, first brewed as a holiday specialty, and now one of our most popular beers year-round. Northern English brown ales tend to be strong and dry, while southern English brown ales are milder and sweeter. Brooklyn Brown Ale combines the best of those classic styles and then adds an American accent in the form of a firm hop character and roasty palate. A blend of six malts, some of them roasted, give this beer its deep russet-brown color and complex malt flavor, fruity, smooth and rich, with a caramel, chocolate and coffee background. Generous late hopping brings forward a nice hop aroma to complete the picture. Brooklyn Brown Ale is full-flavored but retains a smoothness and easy drinkability that has made it one of the most popular dark beers in the Northeast.

very nice beer! good any time of year. has more body and flavor compared to new castle. purchased a six pack from a local six pack shop. can easily drink 5 or 6 in session! next time i will definately pick up a case. would also like to try this one on tap!

really really solid. pours a slightly cloudy brown with a khaki colored head. smells sweet and slightly roasted. you can smell slight hop notes as well. very smooth taste. mellow nut like flavors, slight chocolate. very sweet, not too sweet. very well rounded. awesome american brown ale, one of the better one i've sampled. i guess it doesn't hurt that the brewery's from my hometown. sessionable beyond belief.

Pours a transparent but dark and deep chestnut, with a chunky foam head, tons of shards of stain, and some good lace.

Smells of malty scents: chocolate, wood, roasted walnuts. Deep and luxurious. Taste is light: a mix of thin malt, dry burnt toast, and a little hops at the end. But it expands to chocolate flavors, and boy does it ever... sweet without ever being a sweet beer, there is a slight fruitiness in this beer, too. The finish tastes of roasted nuts and coffee of the highest quality without toasting your tastebuds. Impressively full of flavor and character.

To me, had the exact mouthfeel for the style: thin in the British session ale tradition. Thus, it's excessively drinkable as adherence to the style should dictate. Great on tap in NYC, good in bottles. A good beer to always have around, and excellent for wooing the ignorant into beerdom. This is my standard for the style.

This brew has quickly become my favorite in the Brooklyn line, which, by extension, makes it my favorite beer in the whole entire universe. Yeah. Soooo, it's packed with flavor and is medium to dark in color. Some say it's drinkability prevents it from being a session beer but I disagree. Drink it, and drink lots of it.

Most of my notes from the previous reviews are still spot on, but I would say that this time the hops are very dominant, maybe too dominant. There is still plenty of toastyness but the malt seems subdued. I like a dry brown ale but it is hard to pull off. This beer doesn't quite get the job done. Too many hops and not enough toastyness and maltyness to balance out the bitter elements.

Updated on September 1, 2011: Only wanted to add that this beer when drunk alongside Real Ale Brewhouse Brown is much sweeter, but with a nice dry backbone. Not as good as RA but enjoyable all the same.

Review from April 16, 2007: AP: 4.5 AR: 4.5 F: 5.0 MF: 4.5 OA: 4.5

I'm drinking this at the jfk airport before flying out of nyc.

Incredible! I don't want to overdue the superlatives, but this the best brown ale I've had in some time.

Pretty mahogony brown with tan head. Nice slightly creamy mouthfeel.

The aroma is spectacular.lots of nice roasted malts. The flavor is a superb balance of roasted toasty malts, a tiny bit caramel and chocolate and a surprising surge of hops that gives a nice bite.

Very sessionable. I look forward to drinking this again on my next trip to ny.

It must speak volumes about my dedication to both CANs and AIPAs that it has taken me over 2,600 reviews before I have gotten around to this one. I am trying to reduce my backlog of bottles so that I may resume The CANQuest (TM) in earnest. Please bear with me in the interim.

From the bottle: "Brewed in New York"; "Ruby mahogany in color, Brooklyn Brown Ale is richer and hoppier than its mild and malty English forebears. Chocolate and coffee flavors punctuate the roasty malt background. Brooklyn Brown is brewed with malted barley, hops, water, and yeast, and will taste best before the freshness date indicated."

Chez Woody's kitchen is much like the alley at the beginning of each episode of "King of the Hill" - nothing happens until the CAN is cracked, the bottle cap is popped, the keg is tapped and pouring, etc. The bottle is like my Old Lady at this point - sweating in anticipation of my touch and ready to pop. Boom! The rush of liquid into my glass was fascinating, creating a big, rolling pseudo-cascade as I watched. Like most males, I am a very visual learner and I was transfixed by the creation of two-plus fingers of dense, light-tan head with great retention. I held it up to the naural light of the day to behold and I was not disappointed. I fully agree with "mahogany", but I might substitute "garnet" for "ruby" (SRM = &gt; 27, &lt; 34) as I need to put my own stamp on this review. Otherwise, I might just do a cut 'n' paste and call it a day. Did they mention clarity? No. I will classify it as "button-bright" and leave it at that. The nose was malty, sure, but cut with a minty, grassy hoppiness. Remind me, why have I not reviewed this until now? Mouthfeel was full and creamy and the taste was like Baby Bear's Brown Ale - just right! The malt was present, but not cloying and the hops were in the mix, but not overwhelming. I have had English Brown Ales that were sickeningly sweet and American Brown Ales that caused me to wonder if the brewer knows when to take his foot off of the gas when it comes to hops. Finish was smooth, semi-dry and eminently drinkable. I do not often drink Brown Ales, but when I do, Brooklyn Brown is my choice. Stay crazy, my friends.

The beer is a dark umber brown, topped with a creamy almond colored head. The head is nice and thick, retaining through the pint with at least 1/4 of an inch left at the last sip. That's some great head retention in my book. Lots of lace on the glass, leaving rings all the way down.
The aroma is richly malty, with lots of caramel toasted malt, and a bit of nuttiness. Definitely in the english style, with minimal hops. Some biscuity yeast aroma, with light apple and plum fruitiness. A touch of chocolate.
The flavor is pleasant and mild, starting off with a mild malty sweetness. Smooth caramel and cocoa flavors up front, wandering into a wonderful fruity middle. Well defined plum flavor, with a bit of pear. Very mild herbal hopping in the finish, providing balance without much in the way of bittering. A bit of nuttiness in the end. Some chocolate biscuity malt comes through in the finish, lingering into a quickly disappearing aftertaste.
An excellent brown ale. Probably my favorite american interpretation.

There is a reason that we, as Beer Advocates, should always keep a few points in reserve when we rate beers--there's always another beer lying in wait to knock us on our ass!

Like a chocolate malt soda, BBC Brown tastes to a Beer Advocate like double-fudge chocolate-chip brownies would to a chocoholic. There's some serious sweet malt in this beer, which I love of course (check out the moniker). Hard to believe it all comes from the malt.

For an ale, there is a serious lack of off-ferment characteristics on this one, save for some kind of master's stroke in the ester department. It's smooth as a lager.

The hops serve a perfunctory role, as they would in a double bock, but their balancing characteristics definitely keep this malt-banger from being overly cloying.

As it stands (or, while I'm still standing), I'd put it between a Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar and Smuttynose Old Brown Dog.

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PS - If this is what beers tasted like before prohibition, damn us all to Hell for what this nation's beer has become!

This poured an attractive dark and burgundy brown color. Clear, with glowing cherry-mahogany highlights shining through when held up to the light. A creamy tan head topped the beer off. The aroma is rich and dark with caramel, chocolate and roasted grains. Theres a slight alcohol spiciness and a sweet roasted oats bran note. Warming and inviting. The taste is sharp and rich with bittersweet chocolates, and full of roasted notes. Light to medium in body. The finish is clean, complex and satisfying. This still remains the quintessential American Brown Ale.

The taste is lightly roasty with chocolate hint, caramelized prunes, light tart fruit, leaves, hint of sweet wine and a faint citrusy bite plus a little nut. It is mostly sweet with faint tartness and a little bitterness, mostly leafy with hint of citrus, and the finish is lightly dry, toasty, and leafy.

Beer god, how have I dismissed this offering for so long? I will apologize with some prayer.

GO:BBA
I dismissed this beer because of the cover. Brown Ale. Lurking inside is a very well crafted, complex beast eager to maul your palate. This nose is huge, similar to a robust porter, challenging the drinker to take a pull. Think of Mama's Secret baking in the oven. It tastes even better than it smells, and is well balanced with the hop-to-malt ratio. Clean tasting, and carbonated perfectly. Just one highly pleasureable drink that knows how to end, but keeps on giving anyway. Refreshingly delicious.
This was my fault for not giving Garrett the benefit of the doubt earlier. Awesome, so of course, highly recommended.